Conventional easels used by artists normally have a pair of rigid forward legs and one or more pivoted legs extending rearwardly therefrom, the forward legs having at least one horizontal supporting member thereon upon which the lower edge of a canvas or artist's board is supported. Examples of easels of this type are taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,202,471; 2,953,341; 2,565,078 and 2,064,232. Easels of this type are highly successful for studio or semi-perminent locations but for the purposes of transporting or storing are awkward and consume a considerable amount of space both in relocation and storage, as a result attempts have been made to provide collapsible type easels. Examples of collapsible easels are taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,453,470; 4,057,215; 3,244,450; 3,095,666; 3,095,665 and 2,549,306. Easels of this type fail to provide compactness with essential features that are versatile in accommodating artists of various media.